So let me get this straight. Your argument is basically, “Sure, punish the murderer after he shoots my family, but that won’t bring them back. So instead, let’s require everyone to get a government-issued gun license before they can even buy a Nerf blaster.” That’s not a system of justice, that’s pre-crime cosplay. You don’t protect families by deputizing the DMV into a priesthood that sprinkles holiness water on people’s driver’s tests. You protect families by holding bad actors accountable when they endanger others.

Now, on the matter of “training.” Fine. Nobody is saying training is bad. But training and licensing are not the same thing. Training is a real skill. Licensing is a revenue scheme stapled to the front of that skill. It’s the difference between “You should learn how to swim” and “You cannot enter the public pool unless you’ve paid us for a laminated card proving you’ve learned how to swim in our approved manner, during office hours, with exact change.” If you want training requirements, private companies, insurers, and even municipalities could establish them without a statewide Department of Clipboards.

As for the drive-by historical claim that “driving as a right was invented by car manufacturers”—so what? That’s like saying, “the idea that free speech is a right was promoted by pamphlet printers.” It doesn’t matter who pointed it out, it matters whether it’s true. The right to travel and move freely is ancient, older than Ford Motor Company, older than horse-drawn buggies, older than even your Uncle Lester’s 1984 Buick. Just because Henry Ford pointed at the obvious doesn’t mean he invented it.

Here’s the irony: people are so worried about unsafe drivers killing families, but the license system has never actually prevented that. People with valid, state-approved, federally-honored licenses still cause crashes every single day. The license didn’t save anyone. What it did do was create an illusion of safety while extracting a steady stream of fees and fines. The DMV is not the guardian angel riding shotgun with your kids—it’s a tollbooth dressed up as public safety.

So yes, let’s have training. Let’s have accountability. Let’s have real consequences for endangering life. But don’t confuse justice with a laminated card. That’s like saying the TSA keeps us safe because they confiscated a grandma’s nail clippers.